Two women jailed for lottery fraud
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Two women, aged 23 and 25, convicted of money laundering was sentenced to 22 and 20 months' imprisonment respectively at the District Court today (March 25).

The Court heard that in April 2008, an 82-year-old woman living in Australia received a phone call from a Putonghua speaking man who claimed himself as a staff from an entertainment company in Hong Kong and told the victim that she had won a cash award of $40 million in a lottery. In order to receive the prize, the victim was required to deposit advance fees into designated bank accounts.

The victim deposited a total of $2.8 million as instructed but did not receive any reward. A report was then made to Hong Kong Police.

Investigation was taken over by the Commercial Crime Bureau and it was revealed that $1.3 million and 0.57 million had been received and withdrawn by two Taiwanese women aged 23 and 25 respectively. The two women were subsequently arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport on July 22, 2008.

Follow up enquiries revealed that the duo were involved in two other similar lottery fraud cases in which two men, aged 50 and 70, living in New Zealand and Australia respectively were deceived.

The two women were charged with dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence and the sentences were handed down today.

Police appealed to the members of the public to be cautious when they receive any unsolicited offers by means of promising awards on payment of any advanced fee. The public is strongly advised to verify the source of such offers and to report to the Police if in doubt.

Police Report No. 6
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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